ust, and set it by the fire. Beat up
the yolks of four eggs, with half a pound of fine powdered sugar; pour
it upon the mass, and work it well by the fire. Add half a pound of
currants, well picked and washed, and send it to the oven. Half the
quantity of sugar, eggs, and butter, will make a very pleasant
cake.--Another. A pound and a half of well-dried flour, a pound of
butter, a pound of sugar, and a pound of currants, picked and washed.
Beat up eight eggs, warm the butter, mix all together, and beat it up
for an hour.--For little plum cakes, intended to keep for some time, dry
a pound of fine flour, and mix it with six ounces of finely pounded
sugar. Beat six ounces of butter to a cream, and add to three eggs well
beaten, half a pound of currants nicely washed and dried, together with
the sugar and flour. Beat all for some time, then dredge some flour on
tin plates, and drop the batter on them the size of a walnut. If
properly mixed, it will be a stiff paste. Bake in a brisk oven. To make
a rich plum cake, take four pounds of flour well dried, mix with it a
pound and a half of fine sugar powdered, a grated nutmeg, and an ounce
of mace pounded fine. When they are well mixed, make a hole in the
middle, and pour in fifteen eggs, but seven whites, well beaten, with a
pint of good yeast, half a quarter of a pint of orange-flower water, and
the same quantity of sack, or any other rich sweet wine. Then melt two
pounds and a half of butter in a pint and a half of cream; and when it
is about the warmth of new milk, pour it into the middle of the batter.
Throw a little of the flour over the liquids, but do not mix the whole
together till it is ready to go into the oven. Let it stand before the
fire an hour to rise, laying a cloth over it; then have ready six pounds
of currants well washed, picked, and dried; a pound of citron and a
pound of orange peel sliced, with a pound of blanched almonds, half cut
in slices lengthways, and half finely pounded. Mix all well together,
butter the tin well, and bake it two hours and a half. This will make a
large cake.--Another, not quite so rich. Three pounds of flour well
dried, half a pound of sugar, and half an ounce of spice, nutmeg, mace,
and cinnamon, well pounded. Add ten eggs, but only half the whites,
beaten with a pint of good yeast. Melt a pound of butter in a pint of
cream, add it to the yeast, and let it stand an hour to rise before the
fire. Then add three pounds of currants well